Author's note: Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, QuietCrash, Maddy Love Castiel, Crazy as a Cheshire Cat, LeeMarieJack, Nyx Ro, CherylB1964, Nicolene B, Treeni, gothichic, CoolCatz14, random yet lovable, keacdragon, LadyGrelka, emebalia and AlexandraMills for last chapter's reviews!
Special thanks to Treeni for beta-reading!
12
It seemed strange for a man with as much to hide as Bobby Singer did to leave the front door unlocked basically all day. At least, that was what sheriff Jody Mills thought before she had gotten to know the man better. The sheriff had to say that she could follow Bobby's reasoning that everyone who came as a friend would knock or ring and everyone who came as an enemy would just kick the door in.
Jody herself stopped ringing the doorbell weeks ago. If the old hunter was not at home the door was locked -there were normal thieves and vandals to be considered too- and if he was Bobby would let her in anyway.
"Hello Bobby," Jody greeted the hunter with a nice smile. Her first guess about Bobby being in his study had been right. There were new marks on the map which meant the hunter had kept searching through the stacks of papers on his desk after Jody left the previous day. Sometimes the sheriff had to wonder if Bobby ever managed to sleep between running the salvage yard, keeping in contact with all those hunters and working on their project. Maybe it was a little too much to call it 'their project', but Bobby and Jody worked on it together as often as their schedules allowed so the sheriff liked to think she had a pretty big part in it.
"Morning sheriff," Bobby replied, returning Jody's smile. If he was brutally honest Bobby never expected to be friends with the sheriff, but Karen's death and the loss of Jody's family had given them common ground. It was nice to have someone who understood not only how hard it was to lose a loved one -Bobby could have talked to most people he knew for that- but also knew the feeling of deep seated guilt over ever believing that the dead coming back from their graves would be anything other than bad news. It was that belief that cost Jody her husband and made Bobby do things he still regretted. Not to mention that Jody was a smart woman with a lot of connections. All in all, having the sheriff around regularly was nice and something Bobby had gotten used to very quickly.
"Some new reports came in. Nothing too strange, but I thought you'd like to look over them anyway," Jody announced as she put the map she carried in her right hand on the desk, "I also brought..."
Jody had not even gotten the opportunity to reveal what the white box she held at her left contained before Dean entered the room.
"Do I smell pie?" Dean asked with a winning grin, before he fully acknowledged it was the local sheriff who was holding the promising looking box, "Is this an official visit, because I promise I was just about to pay those parking tickets."
Of course, the oldest Winchester was kidding. There were no parking tickets to be paid for. Dean generally tried to avoid parking violations, because it was the hell of a hassle to get his baby out of impoundment. Most of all, Dean hated the thought of strange men touching his baby to take her away from him. Nobody locked baby in a corner!
"Jody is helping me look for the archangels," Bobby explained with a sigh. The old hunter was sure that the oldest Winchester would find a way to make this embarrassing for everyone. For someone who always acted like he was gagging at the first signs of affection between his younger brother and his boyfriend, Dean sure liked to stick his nose into Bobby's -nonexistent- love life.
"Oh, it's Jody now..." the oldest Winchester grinned as he nudged Jody's side with his elbow.
"Don't think you're too old for me to bend you over my knee, boy," Bobby threatened, giving Dean a pointed glare. The old hunter would have to show the idjit how fast he could take him down a peg, if Dean did not watch his words carefully. Apparently, Bobby's glare was enough to let the oldest Winchester know how serious he was.
"I'll just..." Dean cleared his throat awkwardly as he nodded toward the door. There would be more opportunities to tease Bobby about his new 'friend' later. For the moment, Dean would not push his luck any further. If Bobby thought he had something to prove, the old hunter might stay true to his threat and even an attempt could only end badly and embarrassingly for both of them.
Apparently the oldest Winchester was lucky that day, since the next hilarious thing was just around the corner; this time in the form of his younger brother's boyfriend in red shorts.
"Nice legs," Dean commented.
"Really, Dean-o?" Gabriel asked, snorting as he raised an eyebrow at the oldest Winchester. If Dean thought that the former archangel was insecure about any parts of his body, he was sorely mistaken. There was a reason -other than that they were hard to come by- why Gabriel had not changed vessels in ages. The former archangel was about to point out that Sam's legs in shorts were even better than his, looking even more mile long and drool worthy than they usually did, just to see Dean squirm, when a much better comment for riling the oldest Winchester up came to his mind. "I thought those shorts showed off my perky a-"
"Let's just get going before it gets too hot outside," Sam suggested before his partner could finish his statement. It was bad enough that Gabriel bent over demonstratively to check his sneakers were tied firmly enough and wiggled his butt in Dean's general direction. Sam really wanted to get going before the two most important men in his life -with Bobby and Adam as close runner ups- could get into one of their loud and lengthy arguments again.
The oldest Winchester opened and closed his mouth without saying anything. The former archangel would have deserved a witty comeback to his stupid comment, but Dean was content enough knowing that Gabriel was about to learn what Sam considered a quick morning jog.
"You know, muffin, this isn't what I had in mind when you said training," Gabriel stated on the way outside. The former archangel really did not like the smirk Dean threw his way before they left. The oldest Winchester probably knew something Gabriel did not and the former archangel had a feeling that it had something to do with Sam's training program. "I was thinking knives and guns, the whole 'we're big bad hunters' shebang."
Gabriel would be the first to admit that he was not a big fighter. Of course he fought back when he was attacked and sometimes a preemptive strike was necessary. Gabriel was not a pacifist by a long stretch, but he preferred a sneaky approach over an open confrontation any day. However, the former archangel wanted to prove that he was not a liability to the hunters -especially Sam- and to achieve that he had to prove he could fight.
"We'll get to that," Sam promised, leaning in to give Gabriel a quick peck to the lips before he straightened his posture and declared, "But first: Cardio."
"I thought that was only needed for the zombie Apocalypse," Gabriel quipped as he started to jog after Sam. The former archangel had to admit that he could use some more endurance and unfortunately doing sports regularly was the only way to achieve that. At least there were upsides to an enhanced stamina that would be worth working for.
"You know that zombies are one of the things we're dealing with," Sam retorted, shaking his head before he turned back to state, "Now stop complaining. A little jogging never hurt anyone."
Gabriel huffed out a laugh, "Are you sure? 'Cause I'm pretty sure a lot of people have dropped dead from..."
"You want to keep eating all that sugar and still keep your perky ass? You're gonna have to start burning calories," Sam interrupted, smirking to himself. The younger Winchester would not go as far as to say his boyfriend was vain, but Gabriel knew he was good-looking and wanted it to stay that way.
"What are we waiting for?" Gabriel asked, gaining more speed to catch up to Sam. The former archangel could not help two thoughts that crossed his mind a second later. First, Sam was only just getting warmed up while Gabriel thought the speed they were going at was a tick too fast already. Also second -and most importantly- Sam's ass looked more than awesome in his blue shorts.
"Go on without me..." Gabriel declared dramatically. The former archangel was sweaty, out of breath and his legs hurt. Nobody could say Gabriel had not given jogging a fair chance. He had not stopped at the first signs of breathlessness, he kept running even after he discovered that his shoes were chaffing the backs of his heels and he did all of it with just minor complaints. The former archangel hoped against hope that their route would take them back to Bobby's house and he would catch the liberating sight of the salvage yard in the distance soon. No such luck though and Gabriel was done with it.
"Gabe," Sam sighed, slowing his pace immediately. All of Gabriel's complaints this far had been half-hearted, so Sam took the liberty of ignoring them. However, his partner sounded completely seriously this time.
"I can't... I just can't..." Gabriel wheezed as he bowed over, his hands on his thighs as he tried to catch his breath. If anyone asked, the former archangel would maintain that they had been going for an hour at least and Sam's speed was closer to that of a cyclist than a jogger. One stupid comment out of Dean's mouth and the oldest Winchester could have a sweaty hug and Gabriel's undoubtedly stinky sneakers hidden under his bed!
"Okay fine, we're turning back now," Sam agreed with an encouraging smile as soon as Gabriel was ready to stand straight and look him in the eye again. The younger Winchester would have preferred to keep going for at least another five minutes, but the twenty-five they managed were really good considering it was Gabriel's first time. The air was heating up anyway and Sam did not intend to turn his partner off of doing any sports with him in the future.
"What?" Gabriel nearly squeaked as he gave Sam an incredulous look, "Muffin, unless you carry me... or you plan to call me a cab..."
They obviously were not on some circuit that would lead them back to where they started, which meant they would have to walk all the way back. There was no way Gabriel could run again and especially not for as long as it had taken them to get this far! The former archangel was only just starting to catch his breath again and his legs were even heavier now than they were before! If Sam honestly asked him to jog again Gabriel was sure he would just keel over. He would...
"Y'know, I was thinking about that little privacy problem we have at Bobby's," Sam suddenly whispered in a low, seductive tone. His breath was tickling Gabriel's ear as the younger Winchester gently moved some sweaty strands of hair out of his partner's face. "And suddenly the panic room came to mind, but I guess testing that can wait..."
Gabriel's golden eyes met Sam's green ones as the former archangel tried to figure out how serious his boyfriend was about the offer. There was nothing in Sam's gaze that suggested anything other than complete sincerity which immediately made Gabriel reconsider how bad of a shape he really was in. They had only gone for ten minutes tops before Gabriel's little breakdown, right? What was another ten minutes?
"What's the holdup? Get your firm ass in gear already!" the former archangel exclaimed as he started to jog back toward the salvage yard.
Sam was too surprised to move for a few seconds before he laughed and shook his head. At least Gabriel was really easy to motivate.
"This damn sure would be easier, if we knew what any of them look like," Jody exhaled soundly as they kept looking through stack after stack of papers. The sheriff never noticed how many strange or unexplained things occurred on a daily basis before she started to search the police database for that sort of thing. Sure, every now and then cases could not be closed, but Jody always assumed there was a natural explanation for those that nobody had found yet. Not anymore.
The sheriff and the old hunter were mostly looking for signs of the three missing former archangels, but this far they had only come up with possible hauntings and an alarming amount of potential monsters wreaking havoc. Bobby was passing them on to hunters he knew were in the vicinity, so the general public was surely profiting from their fruitless search. It was still frustrating that they could not find anything about the people they were actually looking for.
"Wait a second," Bobby replied, his head snapping up from the papers he had been looking through to meet the sheriff's gaze, "The boys could identify Lucifer and Raphael, if they're still in their vessels..."
None of them had any idea what became of Michael after he was thrown out of heaven without a vessel to call his own, but Lucifer and Raphael –as far as they knew- were inhabiting vessels at the time. Sam, Dean and Gabriel knew what Lucifer looked like and the Winchesters had seen Raphael's new vessel during their stay in heaven.
"Taking vessels should make for missing people reports," Jody pondered out loud. If they could find the reports and the pictures that went with it, Jody could put a search warrant out for them. At the very least they would be able to identify them in case files once they knew what they looked like. "It's worth a shot."
Bobby nodded thoughtfully. They had a rough time frame for when the people Lucifer and Raphael had taken over would have disappeared. The old hunter would not kid himself. The new plan would make for another huge stack of papers to go through, but it seemed more promising than looking for any and all strange occurrences in the country.
"You're very helpful, sheriff," Bobby stated.
"I try," Jody shrugged.
Their eyes met as they smiled at each other. Bobby realized they were a good team weeks ago. Jody was much more open-minded than the old hunter had come to expect from an officer of the law. She took most things Bobby taught her in a stride and often came up with ideas that were really helpful. At the same time, Jody was very grateful to have found someone who could tell her more about this crazy, monstrous part of the world she stumbled into. The sheriff felt much more grounded since her world made sense again. It was comforting to know even the supernatural world had rules.
The moment between the sheriff and the hunter was over when Sam and Gabriel returned from their jog.
"You promised," Gabriel complained in a whiny tone even as he tried to catch his breath, "You can't promise sex and not deliver! It's cruel!"
"You just said you can't even move anymore," Sam retorted, huffing out a laugh that only added insult to injury as far as Gabriel was concerned. The younger Winchester had to half drag, half carry his partner back into the house after Gabriel completely wore himself out on the way back. Sam was very impressed that the former archangel managed to run the entire way, even if Gabriel's legs gave out the moment they reached the salvage yard.
"So? You'll have to do the moving!" Gabriel stated logically, obviously very pleased with himself and the solution he came up with, "I'll just lie back and..."
Bobby slammed the door to his study shut before they could hear or -heaven forbid- see anything more. At least Jody was laughing. Bobby idly wondered if she would still be laughing after spending a couple of days with the idjits. Somehow the old hunter always started to immensely appreciate his usual solitude when the boys came to visit.